This application relates to optical whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonators and applications of such resonators.
Optical resonators may be used to spatially confine resonant optical energy in a limited cavity with a low optical loss. The resonance of an optical resonator may be used to provide various useful functions such as optical filtering, optical modulation, optical amplification, optical delay, and others. Light can be coupled into or out of optical resonators via various coupling mechanisms according to the configurations of the resonators. For example, Fabry-Perot optical resonators with two reflectors at two terminals may use partial optical transmission of at least one reflector to receive or export light.
WGM resonators confine light in a whispering gallery mode that is totally reflected within a closed circular optical path. Unlike Fabry-Perot resonators, light in WGM resonators cannot exit the resonators by optical transmission. Light in a WGM resonator “leaks” out of the exterior surface of the closed circular optical path of a WGM resonator via the evanescence field of the WG mode. An optical coupler can be used to couple light into or out of the WGM resonator via this evanescent field.